The Sunday Slide: April 9, 2023

Bracketology is back at USA Lacrosse Magazine. There are a lot of stories I read as the Digital Content Editor of our website — I read literally all of them, obviously — and our bracketology stories by Jeremy Fallis (women’s bracketologist) and Patrick Stevens (men’s) are some of my favorites to edit.

There’s a lot of research and due diligence that goes into putting these together, and I respect the work that goes into them. But I also enjoy learning something valuable in the stories I edit, and with so much information jam-packed into each bracketology piece, it’s tough not to walk away from them feeling smarter.

(If that’s not an endorsement to read last week’s stories, then what is? Check out our women’s bracketology story here and our men’s here. Just remember they don’t include this weekend’s results. Updated bracketology will drop on Tuesday.)

This brings me to the light bulb moment I had reading Jeremy’s piece last week. It’s obvious, but it didn’t really hit me until reading. The Ivy League is about as big a question mark as it’s ever been.

It’s always been a competitive conference, but it’s been rare for the Ancient Eight to not have at least one team with a strong enough resume to even be considered for an at-large berth. Had Princeton somehow not won the Ivy tournament in 2022, it most definitely would have made the NCAA tournament anyway. But this year, I don’t know if there’s a runaway favorite of the bunch.

Penn leads for now after a dominant 16-6 win over Yale, and Princeton looks to be in a tailspin after losing to Saint Joseph’s. But Yale also beat previously undefeated Army last week, showing that the Bulldogs have some fight left in them, and Princeton can’t be counted out entirely — especially with a game against Loyola on Wednesday.

Who do you think is going to win the Ivy League? Let me know. Shoot me an email at kdejohn@usalacrosse.com.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

It finally happened. Denver allowed nine goals. But don’t worry, Pios fans, Denver’s still one of two unbeaten teams remaining in the nation — and it still hasn’t allowed double-digit goals in a game to boot. Denver is 13-0 after a 14-9 win over UConn in which the Pios dominated the draw battle 20-7. Denver has won 24 consecutive conference games in the regular season, a streak dating back to April 28, 2018.

Maryland is now 25-0 all time against Johns Hopkins. Twenty-five and oh. Zero losses. I know the Terps have long been the class of the women’s lacrosse world and most recently the Big Ten, but Johns Hopkins isn’t a bottom-shelf program. I’ll add another mind-bender of a stat here: Maryland is 167-6 at home under Cathy Reese. One hundred sixty-seven and six.

Michigan has one regular-season game left, a Thursday evening tilt against Johns Hopkins in Ann Arbor. Doesn’t it feel like the season just started? Maybe it’s just me.

Notre Dame was 10:43 away from another massive ACC win. Up 11-7 against Boston Colelge after Jackie Wolak (maybe the most underrated player in the ACC this year?) scored her 28th goal of the campaign. But that awakened the Eagles, apparently. Five different players scored goals in a game-ending 5-0 run, with Cassidy Weeks netting the winner with 12 seconds left. A loss is a loss, but Notre Dame has been impressive the last few weeks.

My fiancée and I have a TV guilty pleasure when we’re bored — MTV’s “Catfish.” It is admittedly garbage television, but as we streamed a couple episodes the other night, the same three commercials played during every break. Why can’t these streamers — ESPN, BTN and CBS Sports Network included — at least have a carousel of 10 different ads to play during commercials? My sanity would thank you.

We continue to know close to nothing about the Pac-12 hierarchy. Stanford beat USC last weekend, but USC beat Stanford today. Colorado, meanwhile, has beaten Stanford but lost to USC. Does that make USC the favorite right now?

FUN WITH NUMBERS

1 • Goal allowed by James Madison in its 18-1 win over Vanderbilt. The Dukes are on a roll, winners of 13 straight.

8 • Assists Elle Clevenger produced in Maryland’s 18-7 win over Ohio State, a single-game program record. Of all the historical figures to come through the Maryland program, Clevenger now stands alone with a record of her own.

14 • Career-high draw control total by Olivia Adamson in Syracuse’s 19-10 win over Clemson. Fourteen is also how many wins Syracuse has earned in a row.

246 • The James Madison career draw controls record broken on Wednesday by Dukes defender Rachel Matey. Haley Warden previously held the record.

500 • Career saves milestone Elyssa Enrique reached in Saint Francis’ 14-10 win over Merrimack on Saturday.

2014 • The last time Boston U had earned a ranked win before beating No. 20 Navy 12-11 on Saturday. It was about as unexpected a win as we’ve gotten this season, and that’s saying something considering the upsets we’ve seen this spring.